Nintendo interview (Wii ware, Friend codes, Storage space )

[Helmsly]

gamasutra have an interview with Nintendo PR manager Eric Walter:

 

On Friend codes & Monster Hunter 3:

GS: Now that Monster Hunter 3 is announced as a Wii exclusive, there’s been some speculation that this game might be the first to “circumvent” friend codes, because it really hinges on group play, and friend codes can be somewhat unwieldy. Will there be some kind of solution to this?.

 

EW: We’re still discussing that; we don’t have anything to announce today. But the way that we think about friend codes is, when folks are online, and they want to play, they typically want to play with their friends. And so, they want to keep it to groups of people they know. We’ve seen, in the feedback we’ve gotten, that people don’t mind the friend codes. They like them, because it keeps them playing with the friends that they do know, and it keeps their games “undisturbed,” if you will.

 

Storage Space:

 

GS: Another WiiWare question — considering the Wii has a rather small flash drive, how many titles will it be able to hold? For example, even though Crystal Chronicles on WiiWare is not going to be large, it might be difficult to have even ten games of that volume.

 

EW: A lot of the games for WiiWare that have been submitted so far are smaller in size, so they’re not gonna take up a ton of your drive. But the way that we look at it is, we really don’t want people storing every single game they buy on their drive. When you buy a game, it’s yours forever, so you can delete it, and go back and get it at any time you want. In a way, we liken it to putting music on your iPod; you listen to it for a while, and then you get tired of it, and you pull it off, and you put some new stuff on.

 

...They need to stop with these stupid analogies that make no sense.

 

GS:How is WiiWare coming along nowadays?

 

EW:Really well, actually. It's going to launch in, probably, early 2008, so it's just a few months away. We're really excited about it. It gives small developers the chance to really push some games, and push some theories that they've wanted to try for a while, but didn't have the big budgets to do so.

 

It also gives big, massive video game companies the ability to try out things that would have had to go through a particular marketing channel, and those sorts of things that could get very costly. We have over a hundred titles or so, right now, that are in the works, that we'll potentially launch in 2008. And we're excited; I think it's gonna be really neat. You'll buy the games like you do with your Wii Points Card online.

 

 

Retro Studios:

 

GS:Can you say, at all, what Retro is working on now?

 

EW:I can't. I can tell you they're definitely hard at work, though! I just talked to those guys this morning, in fact, and they're definitely hard at work. There'll be some things coming out, for sure. They're really excited about Metroid Prime 3; it's doing well, and that's a game that I think will see good sales through the holidays.

 

Certainly, the hardcore ran out and got it right away, and I think as fans start to see that game -- and there are still folks coming to the Wii every day -- it certainly hasn't reached its lifespan just yet. So, I think as people begin to come to the Wii, they'll see that game; and even new players can get into a game like that.

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=15986

[Hellfire]

"We’ve seen, in the feedback we’ve gotten, that people don’t mind the friend codes."

I don't know what feedback they've been getting lol

[jammy2211]

"We’ve seen, in the feedback we’ve gotten, that people don’t mind the friend codes."

I don't know what feedback they've been getting lol

 

I laughed at it. What did make me wonder though was, didn't EA already skip FC's with Madden and FIFA?

 

Monster Hunter 3 is ages away, so it doesn't surprise me he didn't have a proper answer. I'd be more worried about a headset :/.

[McMad]

See? These are the kind of excuses that I'm sick of.

[Gio001]

Call me a dinosaur but i usually like to have my own copy of anything i buy. Don't think i'll be buying any vc or wiiware games till they sort the storage issue out.

[jammy2211]

See? These are the kind of excuses that I'm sick of.

 

Dude it's a PR, you've always got to take what they say with a bucket of salt.

 

Personally I just laugh at it, non of it really means anything. It's not like they have the power to make decisions or change things.

[Mike]

Love the iPod comment. Isn't the point of iPods thst you don't have to delete music that you're not listening to at the moment? Or do Nintendo execs have the limited edition 512MB iPods, perhaps? :p

[Hellfire]

See? These are the kind of excuses that I'm sick of.

 

Yeah, other companies don't do that kind of shit. And it makes a world of difference.

[Tellyn]

I don't delete stuff off my 30Gb iPod. :/ Better than Kaplan's fridge analogy though.

[gaggle64]

I don't mind friend codes actually. They're a minor inconvience at worst, the only people registered are my actual friends, and I don't constantly have to sift through messages from American 14 year old satanists asking me to join their clan.

[flameboy]

I think they are probably right about what they are saying about Friend Codes...it is likely that a lot of people will say they don't mind them...and that they can cope with them...

 

As for the Ipod example; what a lot of steaming turd....the difference with an Ipod is you have a computer with all of the stuff backed up on it...idiots...

[Hellfire]

I think they are probably right about what they are saying about Friend Codes...it is likely that a lot of people will say they don't mind them...and that they can cope with them...

 

As for the Ipod example; what a lot of steaming turd....the difference with an Ipod is you have a computer with all of the stuff backed up on it...idiots...

 

You can back up your Wii stuff to the SD and the PC to be honest :P

But, yeah, it's a shitty comparison, they'll eventually release a firmware update with HDD support, this is just PR BS.

[McMad]

Yeah, other companies don't do that kind of shit. And it makes a world of difference.

 

Do I detect sarcasm? I don't care about other companies.

[flameboy]

You can back up your Wii stuff to the SD and the PC to be honest :P

But, yeah, it's a shitty comparison, they'll eventually release a firmware update with HDD support, this is just PR BS.

 

Yeah it is a shitty comparison because then you are relying on other non supported systems/methods....

 

It's like when at E3 the nintendo press conference showed the likes of wiimap.com which is a site that only exists because of friend codes...

 

Yes there are ways to do things, but this is not the way to run a console, get your own systems in place...